Ice skate blade



A. E. MURRAY ICE SKATE BLADE Oct. 30, 1962 Filed Oct. 28, 1960 INVENTOR. ALAN E. MURRAY 6 WM yfim ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,051,324 Patented Oct. 30, 1962 Free 3,061,324 ICE SKATE BLADE Alan E. Murray, 356 High Meadow Road, Southport, Conn. Filed Oct. 28, 1960, Ser. No. 65,630 6 Claims. (Cl. 280-1112) This invention relates to an ice skate blade.

The blade of my invention comprises a bar of resilient metal which is bent into the general shape of an elongated oval having twists of about 90 at both curved ends thereof. These twists provide an upper blade portion having its width disposed ina horizontal plane for attachment to the sole of a skate shoe. The width of the lower portion of the blade is disposed in a vertical plane whereby the thickness of the bar contacts the ice and forms the sliding surface of the blade.

By forming the blade in this manner a high degree of resiliency or springiness is achieved both in vertical and lateral directions and this leads to tremendous control during skating. Since the blade has no stanchions or posts connecting its upper and lower portions the body weight of the skater is resiliently carried and supported in a vertical direction. As the skater makes shifting body movements the resilient blade automatically flexes upwardly or downwardly to adjust for the changes in weight over the blade so that the skater has exceptional feel or control of his skate at all times. This is particularly true during jumps executed in figure skating when the skaters impact in landing on the ice is cushioned and absorbed whereby the skater can readily make a smooth rapid recovery with perfect control. Also, the lower portion of the blade has lateral resiliency, so that when the skater executes a turn the blade flexes laterally in a radial direction outward from the curve of the turn. This causes a substantial portion of the sliding surface of the blade to remain in contact with the ice and the skater in turn experiences exceptional positive control over his skate throughout the turn.

The springiness of my new form of blade is readily controlled and adjusted by the position of the twists at the curved ends thereof[ These twists are formed as an integral part of the blade as the resilient metal bar is bent into the final blade shape. The twists may be positioned anywhere along the curves of the ends of blade extending out beyond the front and back of the skate shoe. If thetwists' are positioned near the tops of the curves, just below the sole of the skate shoe, a minimum amount of springiness is obtained; As the twists are positioned furtherdown along the curves and closer-to the lower blade portion the springiness of the bladeincreases. By changing the position of the twists in this manner the preference of any particular skater as to the degree of springiness can be readily satisfied.

Because of the resiliency of my blade I have found that it is possible to shape the sliding surface of the blade in the form of a continuous curve of relatively high curvature. More specifically, I have found that the sliding surface can be shaped into a continuous curve corresponding to the arc of a circle having a radius of about five to about six feet. This is a relatively high curvature in comparison to conventional ice skate blades which do not employ arcs of a circle of less than seven foot radius and which rarely have a continuous curve in the sliding surface from one end of the blade to the other. The continuous pronounced curvature of the sliding surface in my blade coupled with its high resiliency means that at all times a minimum area of the sliding surface is in contact with the ice, yet, the area of contact is sufficient to give the skater perfect control over the blade and automatically changes due to the resiliency of the blade as the skater performs intricate movements. In other words, only that portion of the sliding surface of my blade which is actually required to give the skater control of his movements is utilized at all times and there is no unnecessary contact between the remaining portions of the sliding surface and the ice. As a result the skater can develop very high speeds and perform agile intricate movements without experiencing cramped leg muscles or other fatigue.

A further novel feature of my blade is the form of serrated teeth I provide in the front end of the blade. The teeth are made by cutting series of lateral V-shaped indentations into the front end of the blade to provide a series of spaced knife edges having a width corresponding to that of the blade. Then, I cut away the middle portion of the knife edges to form a generally V-shaped channel extending around the front end of the blade on a line normal to the width of the knife edges. This results in two series of spaced sharp pointed teeth which are in lateral alignment and which extend around the front end of the blade. I have found that such teeth have far more power to grip or bite into ice than do conventional serrated teeth on skate blades and this is of great advantage in making controlled sudden stops especially when the blade is used in hockey or figure skating.

The blade of my invention may be used with any type of skate shoe. For a shoe which is custom molded to the skater and which includes a rigid bottom portion, as described in my previous U.S. Patent No. 2,904,902, I

prefer to attach the upper blade portion directly to the shoe with bolts but other conventional means for attachment may be employed. In the case of a stock shoe the upper blade portion may be welded to sole and heel plates first and these in turn are attached to the bottom of the shoe. As is well known the plates are resilient in the case of speed skates such as those used in hockey and the plates are substantially more rigid in skates used for figure skating. For all types of shoes I prefer that the two terminal ends of the resilient metal bar be att-ached to the heel of the shoe in order that the upper blade portion will run continuously from the curved front end of the blade along the sole and arch of the skate shoe back to the heel. This is. important since it provides "support under the entire foot and particularly under the arch which is very susceptible to strain during skating. Furthermore, the substantially continuous metal resilient action of the blade so that his control over the form and movement of his body is at a maximum.

Further details of my invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an ice skate having the blade of this invention attached to the shoe.

FIG. 2 is front perspective view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view thereof.

FIG. 4 is a front plan View of the blade on an enlarged scale.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view along line 55 of FIG. 4.

As best shown in FIG. 1 the blade 10 comprises a resilient bar of metal which is bent into a generally elongated oval shape. There are two substantially twists 12 positioned at the curved ends of the blade. The sliding surface 14 of the blade is continuously curved from the front to back in a shape corresponding to an arc of a circle having a radius of 5 /2 feet. The curved front end of the blade has two series of sharp pointed teeth 16 which are in lateral alignment with each other and 3 spaced apart in regular manner around the front of the blade. As shown in FIG. 5 there is a V-shaped channel between the two spaced rows of teeth.

The upper half of the blade conforms to the shape of the bottom portion of the skate shoe 18 and is securely attached thereto by means of a plurality of bolts 29. As best shown in FIG. 3 two rows of bolts 20 are employed to make certain that the connection between the upper portion of the blade and the bottom of the shoe is absolutely rigid. Also, the terminal ends 22 of the metallic bar are positioned below the heel of the shoe adjacent one another. As mentioned hereinabove this is the preferred form of structure when the blade is attached directly to the skate shoe without use of intermediate sole and heel plates.

My new form of blade can be made of any resilient metal. For example, I have achieved excellent results with a bar of cold rolled steel about /2 inch Wide and 43 inch thick. However, the Width of the bar may vary from about /2 to about one inch and the thickness from about to about 3 inch.

The blade is readily formed by bending the metal bar around a fixed support or mandrel having the rough shape of the desired continuous curve in the sliding surface of the blade. As the curved ends of the oval shape of the blade are being formed, the metal bar is rotated to form the 90 twists in the curved ends and as best shown in H65. 2 and 4, these are in the form of helical twists resulting from a 90 turn of the rectangular plane extending through the length and width of the bar. Looking at the lower blade portion from a top plan View, the direction of rotation may be either to the right or to the left and the direction of rotation for both twists may be the same or different. After the twists are formed, the horizontally disposed upper portion of the blade is conformed to the shape of the bottom of a molded skate shoe. Thereafter the rough continuous curve along the sliding surface of the plate is ground with the aid of templates to a highly accurate curve conforming exactly to the desired curvature and the upper portion of the blade is attached to the bottom of the shoe. If the blade is to be used in connection with a stock shoe then it is first welded to sole and heel plates which in turn are attached to the bottom of the shoe in conventional manner.

It is obvious that my new form of blade is a completely unitary structure. The combination of this feature with the twists in the curved ends of the blade and the continuous relatively high curvature of the sliding surface results in a unitary resilient structure which gives the skater maximum control over this skate and body movements during all kinds of intricate skating patterns.

It will be understood that I intend to cover all changes and modifications of the preferred embodiment of my invention herein chosen for the purpose of illustration which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A blade for ice skates which comprises a bar of resilient metal bent into a generally elongated oval shape having an upper and lower portion, each of the two curved ends of said oval shaped bar having a helical twist of approximately the width of said upper portion being disposed in a substantially horizontal plane for attachment to a skate shoe and the width of said lower portion being disposed in a substantially vertical plane whereby the thickness thereof extending from one curved end to the opposite curved end provides a sliding surface for contact with ice.

2. A structure in accordance with claim 1 in which one curved end of said bar is provided with two rows of pointed teeth extending forwardly out from said curved end and below the twist thereof, said teeth being laterally aligned and spaced regularly apart around said curved end.

3. A structure in accordance with claim 1 in which the sliding surface of said lower portion is shaped as a continuous curve corresponding to an arc of a circle having a radius of about 5 to about 6 feet.

4. A blade for ice skates which comprises a bar of resilient metal bent into a generally elongated oval shape having an upper and lower portion, each of the two curved ends of said oval shaped bar intermediate said upper and lower portions having a helical twist of about 90, the width of said upper portion being disposed in a substantially horizontal plane conforming to the shape of the bottom of a skate shoe, the width of said lower portion being disposed in a substantially vertical plane where by the thickness thereof extending from one curved end to the opposite curved end provides a sliding surface for contact with ice, the terminal ends of said bar being positioned adjacent each other along said upper portion and in a location corresponding to the area below the heel of said shoe, the sliding surface of said lower portion having the shape of a continuous curve.

5. A structure in accordance with claim 4 in which the continuous curve of said sliding surface corresponds to an arc of a circle having a radius of about 5 to about 6 feet.

6. A structure in accordance with claim 4 in which one curved end of said bar is provided with rows of pointed teeth extending forwardly from said curved end and below the twist thereof, said teeth being laterally aligned and spaced regularly apart around said curved end.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 52,212 Sennett et al. Ian. 23, 1866 108,662 Wheat Oct. 25, 1870 FOREIGN PATENTS 714,354 Germany Nov. 27, 1941 675,614 Great Britain July 16, 1952 15,974 Sweden June 20, 1903 

